I am trying to develop a process to recover dry copper fines from the sludge remaining after spent wire drawing emulsion is sent for wastewater treatment. Does anyone know of a way to separate the copper fines from the watery sludge containing sticky soluble and non-soluble oils? We have tried vacuum filtration but the screens blind and the oil remains. Adding acetone to the solution separates the oils and lets the copper settle but this produces hazardous waste water as a byproduct. My clients have thousands of gallons of this sludge which many times is landfilled. I want to recover dry oil free copper and send the remaining oil and water for treatment.
